The Sun reports that the Livingston Street Housing Court in Brooklyn is rumored to have had bed bugs. This is months after a story circulated about a prior alleged infestation at the 111 Centre Street Housing Court in Manhattan.

Back in April, the city held bed bug information seminars at six NYC Housing Courts in one week, including Livingston Street and Centre Street, leading one to wonder if this was done because bed bugs had already been found in the courts.

The article links this alleged infestation on Livingston Street to the fact that New York City Housing Courts are filling up with bed bug cases brought by tenants and landlords:

Lawyers who visited Brooklyn housing court were abuzz recently, when bed bugs were reportedly spotted inside a courtroom on Livingston Street.

A spokeswoman for the courts insists the courts are insect-free, but the claim came as attorneys for landlords and tenants said bed bug disputes are filling the docket in New York City courts. At stake are thousands of dollars, including the cost of extermination, destroyed property, and rent for infested apartments. The cases are also setting new precedents in the emerging field of beg-bug law.

It stands to reason that the courts are as vulnerable to infestation as any other public place, and maybe more vulnerable, considering the number of people with bed bugs who are bringing cases to court.

The Sun article also goes into detail about some landmark bed bug cases, such as Ludlow Properties vs. Young, and Mathias v. Accor. And one lawyer describes a current case:

One attorney, Steven Wagner, said he is currently handling a case for a client on the Upper West Side who moved out of his new apartment within 60 days because of bed bugs. The client, who was renting a three-bedroom apartment on West 92nd Street for $7,000 a month, learned shortly after moving in that apartments on adjacent floors were infested with bed bugs. Mr. Wagner said his client’s landlord assured him that there would be no problem, but then the client’s son was bitten in the middle of the night.

“My client feels as if they had been defrauded into even signing this lease,” Mr. Wagner said. “Had they known there were bed bugs in the building, they never would have signed the lease.”

We hear about similar cases all the time afflicting those on moderate or middle incomes, and many times, these folks can’t afford a lawsuit or a move to a non-infested home.

Mr. Wagner understood the ramifications of bed bugs in the New York rental market:

He speculated that bed bug cases could have a ripple effect in the real estate market. “I wonder if this is a new way of getting rid of tenants who are regulated,” he said.

You can read about more bed bug lawsuits here.Similar Posts:

• Rumor: bed bugs in Cincinnati courthouse

Richard Jebb, the first tenant of this building to sue the landlords, lost his case.

A second person, a former tenant, is suing the landlord of the rooming house at 23-25 Temple St. in Nashua, according to the Nashua Telegraph.

Capricia Osirus, a former tenant of 23-25 Temple St., filed a summons in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua last month alleging that the owners of 23-25 Temple Street Realty LLC failed to correct a bedbug infestation in her unit for more than six months in 2007 and 2008.

She’s claiming she suffered “serious, severe, painful and permanent injuries” (presumably the bed bug bites) and that she will continue to be caused pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life in the future.

Osirus, “sustained serious, severe, painful and permanent injuries,” as a result of negligent handling of the bedbug infestation at the building, Sheppard wrote, adding that Osirus had been “caused and will be caused in the future to endure pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.”

Your thoughts?
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• Family sues Chicago area Holiday Inn over bed bug infestation
• Johnson City’s John Sevier Apartments tenants get new mattresses
• 18-story Dayton apartment building infested with bed bugs to be treated with Vikane gas
• Fox Chicago engages with the tenants vs. landlords bed bug blame game
• Self-treatment for bed bugs probably caused Cincinnati fire

Diep Huynh and Oanh Nguyen, a Pennsauken, NJ couple who claim they got bed bugs from a new bedroom furniture set, won $49,000 in a jury trial.

Today a jury awarded the Pennsauken, N.J. couple $49,000 finding that the bedroom furniture they purchased at J.C. Penney in Cherry Hill was infested with bed bugs. “For months, they didn’t know what was causing all their problems and the itching. When they found out that it was the bed bugs, it’s kind of like, it freaks you out a little bit,” said Kevin Siegel, an attorney for the family.

The family bought the furniture back in May of 2006. It was delivered 3 months later in June. It included a chest, dresser and bed-frame with a headboard, costing about $1600.

The family says they were given no choice but to sue after the company agreed to pay to remove the furniture, and to exterminate their room.

But that apparently never happened.

Their lawyer was Kevin Siegel.

You can read the full article or watch the video of Jessica Borg’s news report from WPVI Philadelphia here.Similar Posts:

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This bed bug case has been pending for three years. And for a few reasons, it’s an interesting one.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Gloria and Robert Chisley claim they were bitten by bed bugs in the Barona Resort and Casino, in Lakeside, California (August 2005).

The case is interesting, first of all, because it concerns alleged events in a tribal resort/casino and so is being tried under the Barona tribe’s judicial system.

It’s also interesting because the resort and casino is claiming that the plaintiff had scabies, not bed bugs:

The tribe disputes Gloria Chisley’s contention that she was attacked by bedbugs at its hotel, suggesting instead that her marks were the result of scabies, a condition that would have taken weeks to develop before Chisley showed the marks to hotel employees.

Doctors who have examined Chisley are split on the cause of her marks — one saying bedbugs and two scabies.

Since many of us (especially a few years back, before bed bugs were as well known) were wrongly told by our doctors that we had scabies, I found this interesting.

I gather this is a less frequent occurrence today, as doctors are becoming more aware of the problem of bed bugs.

Incidentally, scabies can be tested for with skin scrapings. Apparently biopsies can also be done, in many cases, to verify a “bite” is from an insect. Neither test, from what I gather, is foolproof.

Scabies, untreated, will not go away. Bed bug bites, in the absence of bed bugs, will.

If the plaintiff was convinced by any of these doctors to undergo treatment for scabies, and at the same time, the couple were removed from the presence of bed bugs, when the condition cleared, it might be very hard to prove whether the scabies mite or bed bugs were the culprits.

And it isn’t clear from this LA Times article whether the couple saw bed bugs, or obtained bed bug samples.

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A Toronto man is suing a Winnipeg Howard Johnson’s motel, claiming he was bitten by bed bugs there.

CJOB in Manitoba reports,

A Toronto man has filed a civil suit against the Howard Johnson Hotel on Ellice Avenue alleging he caught a case of the bed bugs while rooming at the establishment.

Steven Lipson claims after a one-night stay at the hotel in January 2007 he developed welts and itchiness. Lipson alleges a dermatologist confirmed he was bitten by bed bugs. He is suing the Howard Johnson for damages claiming he suffered pain, embarrassment, and permanent scarring.

There isn’t much to chew on there, but we don’t often hear about Canadian bed bug lawsuits, so it does feel quite newsworthy.Similar Posts:

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Daniel Wise of the New York Law Journal reports that

In a ruling of first impression, a Manhattan judge has scratched a request for punitive damages in a bedbug case.

But the judge, Acting Supreme Court Justice Judith J. Gische, let go forward the negligence claims of two Maryland tourists for bites they sustained during a two-night stay at the theater district’s Milford Plaza.

The tourists, Debra Grogan and her adult daughter, Dana, are seeking $2 million in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount of punitive damages.

In rejecting their request for punitive damages, Justice Gische referred to a New York City Department of Health pamphlet in ruling that the two women had failed “to raise a triable issue of fact whether bedbugs are anything more than a nuisance.”

It’s important to understand that the plantiffs are still able to proceed with their claims for $2 million in compensatory damages for negligence. Only the request for punitive damages has been rejected.

What is interesting here is that in making this decision, the judge apparently cited the NYCDOMHH Bed Bug Fact Sheet, which asks and answers questions about bed bugs, and says:

ARE BED BUGS DANGEROUS?

Although bed bugs are a nuisance, they are not known to spread disease.

The plaintiff is suing the Milford Plaza and the Pest Control Operator with whom the Milford had a contract (PAC Extermination Services). The Grogans stayed in a room infested with bed bugs that was near two rooms treated for bed bugs less than a month earlier, but which was itself not treated:

Evidence in the case showed that three weeks before the Grogans’ stay, the hotel had asked PAC to exterminate bedbugs in two rooms near the room reserved by the Grogans. Work orders had been issued for rooms 1511 and 1512 on Dec. 22, 2002. The Grogans stayed in room 1540 from Jan. 17 to Jan. 19, 2003.

The Grogans’ argument is backed up by an entomologist’s testimony that bed bugs travel from room to room:

In support of their claims, the Grogans presented the affidavit of an expert in insects who teaches epidemiology and other courses at the University of Alabama School of Medicine.

(It’s worth noting that although bed bugs are not currently known to spread disease, they are still the subject of study by an entomologist who teaches epidemiology in a medical school.)

The entomologist, Robert J. Novak, reported that bedbugs can “easily” migrate from one room to another and that “proper eradication techniques” require inspection of “adjacent or contiguous rooms, or even rooms on several floors above and below” the floor where the pests had been spotted.

With the defendants having offered no affidavit to counter Dr. Novak’s assertions, Gische wrote, the Grogans had presented enough evidence that the hotel had “constructive notice” of the need to fumigate room 1540 to deny the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

The case must go to trial, Gische ruled, because Novak’s affidavit “set forth genuine issues of fact about the life span of bedbugs, how they migrate and whether these factors should have been (or were) taken into consideration by the defendants in how rooms were treated following bedbug complaints by other guests.”

Even more interesting, this case may have ramifications for the ways PCOs treat for bed bugs.

PAC Extermination Services had argued that it should be released from the case because its obligations were limited to completing work in specifics rooms the hotel had asked to be fumigate.

But Gische said a jury must decide whether the exterminator’s duties were so “comprehensive and exclusive” that it had assumed a duty to keep rooms, other than those for which it received work orders, in “a reasonably safe condition.”

We often hear from PCOs who treat buildings that landlords will ask them to treat just the infested room or rooms, and will often refuse to have other adjacent units on the same or other floors inspected. I can only assume that many hotel managers will make the same request.

In such a case, it’s my understanding that PCOs have two choices: refuse the job (knowing some other PCO will be happy to do as the landlord asks), or do the job, knowing it is likely not enough. This is not an easy choice to make, by any means.

Depending on the court’s findings in this case, we may see a change in this. It may mean more PCOs refuse to treat under such circumstances, insisting instead that adjacent and nearby units are inspected and/or treated.

It could also have ramifications for the price of treatment, since it will doubtless lead to more litigation along the same lines.Similar Posts:

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The Jackson Citizen-Patriot reports that a family is suing the Storer YMCA camp in Napoleon Township, Michigan, claiming that their son brought bed bugs home with him from camp.

Edward Higgins, the defense lawyer, tried to kill the suit, claiming it’s impossible to know how and when bed bugs arrived in the home, but the judge did not dismiss the civil suit:

Circuit Judge John McBain said there’s no evidence the YMCA camp knew of the blood-sucking insects in 2005, but a jury or judge could decide whether officials should have suspected bugs and used routine pest control.

Higgins’ response?

“No one in the Midwest had a clue there were bedbugs here,” Higgins said. “Most people thought it was the subject of a nursery rhyme.”

The bed bug blame game is a difficult one to win, as Higgins knows. In most cases, we have to admit a lack of definitive evidence as to the source of an infestation.

On the other hand, whatever the climate in 2005, the days of denying responsibility because you never heard of bed bugs in your area are now kaput.

Nevertheless, detecting bed bugs is no picnic even when you are aware, as many Bedbuggers will attest.

And it is true that you have to be aware in order to detect them. Still, the article asserts that

While bedbug population has been on the rise in the United States in the last five years, it is not true that no one in the Midwest knew of their existence before that.

“Bedbugs and people have been together since we lived in caves,” Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell said.

Bed bugs have been here all along: we keep hearing this. Many entomologists and PCOs will assert they saw bed bugs (albeit more rarely) throughout the golden years of 1972-1999 (after DDT was banned in the US but before the current epidemic “began”). And yet others date the resurgence of bed bugs to circa 1999.

On the other hand, Russell does not see a clear link in the YMCA infestation and the home infestation:

“I would argue it was a coincidence because bedbug populations are on the rise, and there are many sources,” Russell said. Also, only DNA testing could prove the bugs hitched a ride from Storer Camp to the plaintiff’s house, he said.

Now, about that DNA testing: does he mean testing the home bed bug’s DNA (against that of the bed bugs found at the camp?) Or does he mean testing the client’s DNA being compared with that found in blood eaten by bed bugs at camp? Even if it’s proven that the bed bugs at camp and the bed bugs at home are from the same strain, or bit the same boy, how would either test prove definitively that bed bugs did not travel in the other direction?

Yes, I know a lot of readers will be really frustrated with me. Of course he got bed bugs from the camp, people will say. The same way that when someone first notices bed bug bites after a trip to a hotel, or the purchase of a new mattress (delivered in a truck), they will assume they know the source of bed bugs. And make no mistake, these are all probable sources. But it is also true in these cases that bed bugs could have been present in the home–undetected–before the incident in question.

That’s why the blame game doesn’t usually work.

I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like more than probability is needed to win a lawsuit.*  Perhaps that kind of evidence is available to the judge and jury.

Not enough information is available from the article to call this a coincidence, nor to place blame. We don’t know what the kid saw or experienced at camp vs. at home. We don’t know if he was bitten at home first, or at camp. And even if we did, this moment (the first bite) is often hard or impossible to identify: it appears you can be bitten for months without reacting. People sometimes report a large number of bites appearing at once after many bites not causing an immediate reaction; entomologists who feed bed bugs have reported this occurrence.

Because bed bug bites are allergic reactions, and vary so widely, it is very hard to say when the cause is introduced, or removed.

*Update (3/10/2008):  a reader who happens to be a lawyer responded to my comment above that, “I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like more than probability is needed to win a lawsuit.”

Actually, the standard for a civil case is
“preponderance of the evidence” — more probable than
not — basically more than a 50% chance.

http://www.answers.com/topic/preponderance-of-evidence?cat=biz-fin

Thank you, anonymous lawyer, for that correction.Similar Posts:

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• National Post: Bed bugs invade Toronto
  East Toronto city councillor Paula Fletcher asked the Toronto public health unit on Monday to study what it could do to eradicate the problem of bed bugs. Right now the public health unit does not track infestations, but simply offers phone advice to suff
  (tags: Toronto tippingpoint nationalpost canada ontario bedbugs nov2007 2007 PaulaFletcher Torontopublichealthunit)
• Bedbugs Found in Mountainview: SUNY Binghamton
  Bed bugs have been found in two separate dorms at Binghamton University (SUNY) in New York state. This time it’s in Cascade Hall in Mountainview College.
  (tags: nov2007 bedbugs 2007 bedbug mountainview cayuga cascade treatment universities students dorms colleges newyork binghamton SUNY)
• Bed bugs at Cayuga Hall, College-in-the-Woods, Binghamton University (SUNY)
  Bed bugs found in the Cayuga Hall dorm at Binghamton University. A subsequent article on Nov. 13 notes that a bed bug was later found wandering a hallway in Cayuga. Within the week, bed bugs were also found in Cascade Hall.
  (tags: bedbugs cayuga collegeinthewoods binghamton SUNY universities colleges students dorms nov2007 2007 newyork)
• Curbed SF: Marina Bedbug Removal: Not Cheap
  An article in the latest Business Week SmallBiz cites a Marina District property manager’s infestation (5 rooms, hallways, and in-between walls in a 28-unit complex) as costing $40k, which included almost $10 grand to one litigious resident.
  (tags: bedbugs curbed curbedSF sanfrancisco cost money bedbug infestation epidemic business lawsuits media nov2007 2007)

(The following is not really bed bug news, but a reminder of a time not long ago when encountering a bed bug in a place of business was a bit like finding a hair in your salad, but maybe more common.)


• Urban Legends Reference Pages: The Bedbug Letter
  The standard groveling letter from a corporation that doesn’t give a hoot about the consumer’s experience, was once called “the bed bug letter.”
  (tags: bedbugletter snopes.com history)

(These last two are not really bed bug stories, but they tell us something about how widely known bed bugs are becoming: they’re starting to mean something in popular parlance once again.)

• Four months of boom, bust, and fleeing foreign credit – Los Angeles Times
  Yet another appropriation of bed bugs as a metaphor. Hopelessnomo calls this a Tipping Point, and I agree. This article begins, “Have you considered lately how similar the U.S. economy is to the pesky bedbug?”
  (tags: bedbugs popularmedia popularculture vernacular English metaphor spread tippingpoint)
‘Operation Bed Bug’ Rounds Up Suspects :: WRAL.com
This is about alleged criminals being roused from their beds in a sunrise raid. Wise hopelessnomo called it as a Tipping Point. Ironically, jail is apparently a great place to pick up bed bugs…
(tags: tippingpoint police operationbedbug)

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There’s a new update to Nicholas Brown’s bed bug journal on the Huffington Post today, and it takes us through the 39th day of living with bed bugs during treatment.

In this installment, we learn that bed bugs are taking a significant toll on Brown’s self-identity and social life:

Despite my anger, even our bug-laden living situation is finally normalizing. This process started first as a change in identity: I now think of myself as ‘the guy with bedbugs.’ It’s how I introduce myself. Maybe it’s not the first thing I say, but it will come up in the first five minutes of a conversation. I am taking an acting class and in the first session I said “hey, I am Nick and I have bedbugs,” as if I was in some particularly gross AA session. When I hear someone mention bedbugs in a conversation at a table next to me, I feel obliged to chime in.

They’re also making home very disorganized and uncomfortable, no small problem for someone whose office is at home. Things are not where they used to be; instead, they’re in bags all over the place:

While I am tempted to reassemble my room and my office (which are the same place), I realize there is every chance that the bugs will be back again so I have stopped trying to create a livable space and now just settle for someplace with interior heating.

We also learn that Brown still has bed bugs, well past the 30-day window landlords are given to eliminate bed bugs, under local housing laws. It is not unusual for landlords to need more time, though. Turns out, there are other reasons to be angry at the landlord:

Day 39

Our landlord, we discovered today, knew this apartment had bugs. The previous tenants moved out because of the bedbugs. The whole building – minus our apartment – was sprayed for bedbugs in the months after we moved in. No one mentioned this to us.

Isn’t this illegal? As I commented on the paragraph above, on Nicholas Brown’s blog, this should be illegal. Landlords should not be able to rent out an apartment that is known to be infested with bed bugs, to an unsuspecting tenant. I have a suspicion, however, that it already violates the housing laws. If any NYC rental housing experts are reading this, perhaps they could clarify.

Moreover, if the entire building except one apartment was being treated, any experienced PCO and even the landlord should realize that this might drive even more bed bugs into this unit.

What strikes me most about Brown’s saga, through these six installments, is how very typical it is. We at bedbugger.com have heard it all many times. While I am horrified to hear Brown’s tale, I thank him for sharing it in such a public medium.

By doing so, he may just convey the mess that bed bugs create in one’s life, as well as how easy it is to get them, and how very difficult it is to get rid of them, to those not yet in the know. And that recognition, my friends, is the first step in getting everyone else to help us fight the problem.Similar Posts:

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Curbed.com, the real estate blog, claims that 30 Lincoln Plaza, currently being redeveloped into pricey condominiums (Curbed mentions a price of $1,185,000 for 647 sq/ft one bedrooms), is infested with bed bugs:

UPPER WEST SIDE—It seems there is a little detail about the condo conversion at 30 Lincoln Plaza that may have been overlooked: “You failed to mention that the building is infested with bed bugs…the management has confirmed this and is handing out pamphlets and they have even had a bedbug sniffing dog in some apartments..who knew! I would think this situation is going to really boost sales on those $1,185,000 647 sq/ft one bedrooms.” Bedbug sniffing dogs?!? Excellent. [CurbedWire Inbox]

While it’s always surprising to find out another building has bed bugs, it’s a good thing that the building management is aware and is taking action. I hope they undertake aggressive treatment throughout. (Imagine, hypothetically, the legal activity that would ensue if some units were infested but did not identify the presence of pests, were not treated, and were sold infested.)

This item from Curbed.com reminds me that a lot of the interesting bed bug “news” in the last four days has been leaked via gossip blogs: legal gossip, real estate gossip, ivy league college gossip (although this one probably had another itchy culprit).

Unlike “real” news–which is covered in the newspapers, and on TV and radio–like the spread of MRSA drug-resistant staph bacteria, which tragically killed a 7th grader in Brooklyn, bed bugs aren’t yet confirmed to cause disease and death. They have been unofficially confirmed to cause distress, stress, anxiety, sleeping trouble–and in rare cases, allergic reactions so severe they can kill. But nothing compared with the threat of deadly MRSA. I saw an ABC news segment here in NYC Friday night–kids at the school that youngster attended, were carrying bottles of purell, and startled parents and teachers were looking on in amazement as they reported washing their hands after using the lavatory (ABC7 produced multiple clips in which the students admitted this was new behavior.) The segment also featured a poster on the door of the school, and though it was not shown close-up, I am pretty certain it warned that the school had been exposed to MRSA and that people had to take precautions not to catch it.

Since bed bugs aren’t on the same level of threat, the reasoning seems to go, we don’t need to actually warn people about bed bugs in specific locations. And so “bed bug reports” are confined to the realm of gossip blogs.

Yes, it is true that hotels, real estate developers and brokers, restaurants, theaters and other businesses that are reported to have bed bugs in the mainstream media, will face worried customers and may lose business. The hotel industry in NYC, in particular, will be hard hit. One can only assume Mayor Bloomberg chooses to avoid confronting and admitting the true number of infested homes and businesses in this city (which I first considered in this post), because it would scare off tourists, who contribute so much to the city, as well as negatively affecting real estate, and maybe even how people spend their leisure time (and money).

But it does not follow that if we do not discuss bed bugs, publicly, then they will go away. The opposite is true: as long as businesses are in denial, or putting up a bed-bug-free front, the problem will keep spreading at an alarming rate, and eventually, I believe, the hit on businesses will be greater.Similar Posts:

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